Rohit's nukkad

Saturday, April 28, 2007

Cricket World Cup 2007 -perspective

The finals between Australia vs Sri Lanka for World Cup 2007 will be played today. As the World Cup comes to an end I would like to present my personal perspective of the tournament.
  • Bob Woolmer being murdered, surly brought the ugly face of the game - betting.
  • First and foremost both India and Pakistan had to pay a high price for their inconsistent performance and were eliminated in the first round on the tournament. People of these countries have a "short term memory" and soon everything will be forgotten and forgiven once these team give some positive results in near future (if they give so).This as always delays the process of putting a strong team not only on paper but also on the field.
  • Little known team like Ireland played really well in the tournament. I guess more international tours are restored for them in the future and maybe a test status couple of years down the line.
  • The consistent "winning" performance by the Australian team has two perspective to it. They have set great standard of performance for the game. But at the same time it is high time that someone defeat them. They stand in a league apart than all the other cricket playing nations. None of the teams have troubled them slightly. Their players may give bold statements on and off field but the bottom line is they have given performance to match these statements.
  • Team like England and West Indies have been hyped during the tournament. In the past couple of years these teams have never looked strong one-day teams. They might have given couple of good performance here and there but surly they have to do give some consistent performance.
  • South Africa was my biggest disappointment second to India. They had played some good games but the way they played the semis was by far there worst performance. They definitely could have given a much better performance.
  • A lot of people complained the tournament was too long. But I think it was the best format since top 8 teams got even chance and only the top 4 performers got into the semis. I guess the complain is to do more with very few interesting games (if I am correct there were just 3 nail bitting games).
Well now the tournament comes is ending lets move on to the next sporting event .

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Babubhai Katara - Mr. Smarty pants

Babubhai Katara, is a sitting MP in India, from the state of Gujarat. Our friend Mr. Katara was making a trip to Toronto last week from New Delhi. He was smart enough to take a woman and a child and enlisted them as his wife and child. However Mr. Smarty pants took his wife's diplomatic passport to pass through immigration for the woman accompanying him. The customs got suspicious when the photo on the passport and the woman didn't match.
All three were arrested and put behind bars. Now the case has taken a serious turn with a bunch of people involved in human trafficking case.
But what surprises me the most and made me enjoy a hearty laugh is what made Mr. Katara believe that no one will suspect the lady accompanying him is not his wife. He surly is the most smartest person to think this.

Saturday, April 14, 2007

You will be blown away

I just got home after watching Quentin Tarantino's Grindhouse. For those who haven't heard about the movie. It is twin movies films having Robert Rodriguiz's Planet terror and Quentin's Death Proof in one movie. And it lasts good three hours.
I have been a great fan of Quentin Tarantino's movies and Kill Bill vol.1 was one of his first movie to strike me. There was so much blood and mind blowing action that not for one second one could relax. His movie take you on a high journey and there are elements which will surprise you. Following the surprise element Grindhouse doesn't disappoint either.
The first movie, Planet Terror deals with zombie's and how a group of people try to escape from them in a small town in Texas. This movie has its wierd elements like one character likes to keep the balls ( literally human balls ) of the person he kills or the lead female character having a machine gun attached to her amputated leg. All this is crazy but still the movie entertains you and at times the movie even looks funny.
The second movie Death Proof, starts off with a slow note. With a lot of talking going around and very little action coming. However the last 45 minutes are unbelievable. One needs to see it to believe it. The dare devil stunts and the car chase sequence is just out of this world. One knows it is a movie but still they are so well executed that they look realistic and credit to Quentin for always giving something out of this world. I look forward for his future works.

PS: One needs to be in right state of mind to watch and enjoy these movies. If you don't like blood then this movie or for that matter any other Quentin works are not for you.

Monday, April 02, 2007

Racquetball or Squash

I am a big fan of Racquetball, a game played in enclosed courts indoors or outdoors with the a simple objective to hit the front wall and place the ball in such a way that your opponent has difficulty in returning the shot. It is very similar to squash, with similarities can be drawn from the enclosed space to the use of racquets and ball as equipmentsto play. But at the same time there are a lot of differences between the two games.
1. Court : the court size vary and the layout also varies for the two sports, like in squash one needs to hit above a certain line on the front wall while serving, no such lines exist in racquetball. Moreover in racquetball the aim is to hit the ball as low as possible.
2. Equipment: The squash racquet are similar to tennis raquets though little smaller in size and lighter in weight. The racquetball racquets are without the neck and they are more egglike in shape. The strings are much tighter in squash to give the player better control while in racquetball it is more loosened up so that more power can be used. The ball used in racquet ball is hard, hollow and bigger in size as compared to squash ball. It has more bounce and speed, while a squash ball tends to be slower and tends to die down if placed in corners.
3. Game techniques : Squash is slower and more methodical. Long rallies are common in squash with each point taking any where from 50-100 strokes. Hence squash requires good stamina. While racquetball is all about power and speed with each point taking anything between 10-20 strokes.
These are just few of the differences among the two sports. However both games are good overall workout with fitness being the key in winning or losing a game.